Watercolor house portrait: Falling in love with a vintage Victory House cottage

I have an amazing, return client that gives my house portraits as gifts for all kinds of occasions. She keeps me busy!

Her most recent order was to recreate a portrait of her mother’s childhood home for upcoming Mother’s Day gift.

I loved hearing the history of the home. Until this order, I had never heard of these darling cottages built for veterans following WWII, called “Victory Houses”.

Original photos.

We decided doing a front and back view of the home would make for a darling photo collage later. I fell in love with the square, vintage, color photos instantly and decided that a repetition of the small square in the matting and framing would be a sweet touch.

A bit of research, Q&A with my client and I was off to painting! I love that her grandma had a precious rose garden and sweet patio set with Adirondack chairs in the back porch- perfectly vintage for me!